The September Issue

The September Issue

Synopsis

A documentary chronicling Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour’s preparations for the 2007 fall-fashion issue and the passion that Grace Coddington, a former model turned creative director and the only person who dares to stand up to Anna Wintour, has for the highly-regarded fashion magazine.

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It succeeds at capturing the balanced contrast between Wintour and Coddington and their respective strengths. Yet Wintour is inscrutable by need and choice. It makes her inherently opaque when insight is required for the film. Either Cutler didn't do enough to unpack this enigma or the September issue should have been observed solely from Coddington's point of view (and it is a warm and beautiful one at that).

I enjoyed watching this! Grace Coddington really is the stand-out figure... we can even considerer her the hero of this real life story, in opposition to Wintour's anti-hero persona, always looking kinda apathetic and bored but still being a true visionary nonetheless. You crave the moments when she actually shows a spark of emotion, like when she talked about her siblings' "disdain" (?) for her work at Vogue.

I don't understand WIntour's rationale behind doing this documentary - because Grace Coddington runs the show! I didn't realize that all of the Vogue clippings I've collected over the years were done by her. What a genius.